Jessica O'Connell Nutrition

04/19/2022

This is an excellent article talking about the importance of the health and well being of our kiddos when it comes to their weight.

I have had so many worried parents and anxious kids in my office who have been told by their P*P that their weight makes them "unhealthy". The P*P has sent the child to me for "weight management".

If you and your child have been referred to my office, you know one very important thing, there are NO DIETS, NO WEIGHING IN, NO RESTRICTIONS here! My number one goal when working with children (and adults) is to protect the relationship with food. We work on body image, healthy habits and finding ways to make sense of the diet culture we live in.

I know not all P*Ps are alike, and there are some in the area who also feel the same way I do. Weight alone is not an indicator of health.

To the parents and kids who have been told they need to make nutritional changes based solely on the BMI/growth chart- I'm sorry! There is SO much more to health than what this chart shows.

https://www.romper.com/parenting/body-shaming-weight-talk-in-the-pediatricians-office?fbclid=IwAR0O5BvluX5H0XIbMaJQ0yZmgB2MARD0BCu8FLWBvC-iOGKRlYyNvYTwXMk

Pediatricians who weight-shame kids and make careless comments about BMI are putting them at risk.

03/09/2022

Happy RD day to all my fellow dietitians!

12/29/2021

My friend and amazing dietitian, Julie is starting another 30 day Positivity Project in a few weeks. If you feel like you’re always on a diet and finally want to make peace with the food you put in your body, this is for you!

10/29/2021

With Halloween fast approaching, most of my clients this week asked me how to handle the day. I couldn’t make a better post than this one from Kids Eat in Color.

On a personal note- I’ve done different things with my own kids. One year I let them eat candy with abandonment- my oldest ended up sick all night 🤮🤢 and the youngest ended up at the doctors with a giant sore under her tongue. (She put a sour patch kid there and just sucked on it for most of the night).

Another year I paid them per pound of candy. They could eat as much as they wanted and sell me the rest. This kind of worked but it put the candy on a pedestal for them and they went crazy trying to get as much candy as possible.

What have I done since and what will I do this year? Not make a big deal about the candy. They can have what they want but I will ask them how their body feels and encourage them to make the connection before they enjoy the candy. When we get home, I’ll allow them to pick out 10 pieces and the rest gets thrown away (after mom and dad pilfer through it of course). This seems to be the happy medium my kids need.

What has worked in your house?

🍭 it’s candy time! You get to make the call about how it’s handled in your house.

Do I have some things you can try? Sure.
- if your child doesn’t know what candy is, don’t introduce it unless you really want to
- there’s no need to hype it up any more than it already is
- no, you don’t HAVE to let your child eat as much as they want
- also, yes you CAN let your child eat as much as they want.

This goes this week as well as all year around. Our kids benefit from all sorts of experiences. Eating as much as they want, learning to wait, not being able to eat as much as they want.

Your child may have allergies or sensitivities. Your child may have unbearable sugar crashes. Your child may have a medical condition. You may just have opinions on how much candy they can eat. And guess what? You’re the parent.

I do often talk about the idea that making a big deal out of restricting various foods does make them more novel and exciting and desirable. It’s because there’s quite a bit of research about that. So if you’re overly restrictive with the candy and throwing it all out the next day (and the kids know), kids may become more obsessed with it.

In our house the kids eat as much as they want and then it’s part of afternoon snack until it’s gone or they lose interest. Technically this keeps it off of a pedestal. In real life though, now that they are older, they’ve had so many other people use candy as rewards, it’s pretty impossible to completely keep it off a pedestal. We do the best we can in the world we live in. 😆

10/27/2021

While I am not a fan of candy corn, I have been known to eat a pumpkin from time to time. What’s your favorite Halloween candy? My favorite is Reese’s peanut butter cups. 👻 🎃

10/26/2021

Such a fun and EASY Halloween snack idea from Coastal Family Nutrition

Check out this great Halloween snack or appetizer idea! It's fun and nutritious, which is a in my book! All you need are Babybel cheese rounds, some small scissors, and candy eyes.

10/06/2021

YESSS👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 It doesn’t have to be difficult, it doesn’t have to be IG worthy, it just has to be food.

Sometimes it’s all in the presentation 💁‍♀️Tag a parent who might need this! 👊
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Friends, sometimes we overthink eating and nutrition. We get it in our heads that we have to cook fancy recipes or complicated meals to be “good” parents or raise adventurous eaters.
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But, as goddess says, “Sometimes eating is just ordinary. It doesn’t have to be divine.”
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Sometimes a snack plate is what we need to get food on the table and enjoy our meal together.
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And guess what? Kids LOVE these types of meals. They help teach our kids that we can be flexible about food, which is so important in raising intuitive eaters.
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So, the next time you just can’t even, pull out a few items from your fridge or pantry and put together a little kid charcuterie that you both can enjoy as your meal. We suggest:
- A starch or grain food like veggie straws, whole grain crackers or pretzels
- A fruit and/or veggie - think berries, thinly sliced apples, cucumber, bell pepper, orange segments etc.
- Something with protein - think cheese, beans, cut up leftover chicken etc.
- A dip - kids love to dip! Think hummus, tzatziki, ranch, oil and vinegar etc.
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Did you know our upcoming cookbook {releasing in 2022} has a whole section of “I Can’t Even” meals, including a tonnnn of ideas for kid charcuterie plates? Head to our link in bio to get on our cookbook early access list!
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And for those of you who like to get technical 🤓…. the term charcuterie includes a display of cured meats, but we’re going to use it loosely to mean a snack plate. Because we fancy like that 💁‍♀️

09/29/2021

This mom wins at parenting!!! 🏅🏆🥬

09/03/2021

Does your kiddo prefer pretzels, crackers and pasta over produce? There’s a good reason for that!

Such a great visual from Feeding Littles

08/24/2021

I often get calls from parents asking me to work with their kiddo who is sneaking food. The fastest way to stop kids from sneaking food? Give it to them more.

"But what if they only eat the candy?”⁠⁠
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It's happened with M&m....rarely. They only eat the "treat." By "rarely" I mean, I can't actually think of a time, but I know it's happened. Why is that?⁠⁠
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Because I work hard to prevent them from feeling restricted. As soon as they do feel restricted, that leads to sneaking food, binging, and obsessing about foods. So, if I see anything like that, I bring the obsession food into their meals more. ⁠⁠
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Also, I make sure that there is food that they usually like to eat in the meal. And that the "treat" portion is child-sized. So, they won't be full if they only eat the treat.⁠ And it’s perfectly fine for me to say “we’ll have more m&m’s on Thursday, there aren’t any more available right now.”⁠⁠
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That said, if a child has been feeling restricted, they may only eat the treat food and obsess about it and tantrum for more. And they may continue to eat large quantities of a treat food if they have the chance, until they realize they are going to be able to eat it often. That may take a while...like several weeks or more, before you see them become less obsessed.⁠⁠
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Have you noticed that you eat more of something if you feel like it's limited or restricted?⁠⁠
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If you'd like to read more, there's an article in my link in bio .eat.in.color: The Most Overlooked Reason Your Child is Not Eating Food 😘 ⁠⁠

08/12/2021

Every ending has a new beginning-

Today is officially my last day as a Hannaford Dietitian. It is a bittersweet day as I say goodbye to my wonderful team, associates and customers. I have loved serving the Seacoast community with Hannaford for the last 7 years.

There is a fabulous dietitian who is joining the Exeter store, but if you’re looking for one on one nutrition counseling, you can find me in my practice.

https://www.jonutritionllc.com

08/08/2021

This is too funny not to share!

In all seriousness, if you need help with school lunch options for your kiddos, reach out!

06/24/2021

THIS! While I work hard to teach and model balanced eating for my family and the families I work with, I think it’s also so important to shout from the rooftops, you are not a bad mom for feeding your kids (or yourself) nuggets!!! We eat our fair share of nuggets in our house and I have no guilt in serving them. I do my best to offer produce with them, but some nights, it’s just nuggets and that’s okay 🍗🍟🌭🍔

When M was little, I started experimenting with trusting my toddler to decide how much to eat. We went to a party and let him have a lot of desserts. We were given really horrible looks and comments from extended family members. ⁠⁠
Honestly, I still feel bad when I think about it, even though I'm a much more confident parent now. Judgment feels icky.⠀⁠⁠
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Feeding kids is tricky. We never know the whole story unless we listen. 😘⠀⁠⁠
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Have you ever been judged unfairly for what you feed your kids? ⁠⁠
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Need help feeding your child? I have a free new 14-page child feeding guide in my bio .eat.in.color and bitly.com/tryitguide⁠⁠
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05/21/2021

Beautiful Friday nights shouldn’t be spent in the kitchen! Inspired by an awesome presentation by Cabot Creamery Co-operative, , and Hannaford Supermarkets, a snack plate was in order.

Snack plates are a great way to get a balance meal, without cooking AND everyone gets what they want. That’s a win in my book.

On my plate:
-Chunks of Wildly Horseradish Cabot cheese
-Arrowhead Mills GF crackers (my fav)
-Cedar's Foods Black Bean salad
-the biggest blueberries you’ve ever seen
-carrot sticks and cherry tomatoes that will get dipped in Cedar’s hummus
-Dried figs
-Dark chocolate walnuts

Do you make snack plates, boards or jars? I’d love to know what you include on yours.

05/12/2021

Evey office needs a pink couch😂 I’ve had a couple in person clients over the last few weeks and noticed how uncomfortable everyone had been in the chairs that were here before. Hopefully this couch is more comfortable for everyone! (I’m enjoying it now while I have a few minutes between clients)

04/12/2021

Seems so simple, but it’s so true.

How often do you eat? Are you someone who can’t leave the house without snacks (that’s me 🙋🏼‍♀️) or has half the day passed and you haven’t eaten anything since last night?
One of the most common things I work on with clients is eating more frequently. Yes, it can increase your metabolism, but it’s truly about fueling more and reducing your risk of experiencing intense food cravings and binge behaviors.
Going 4-5 hours without eating can make you feel out of control. You’re so hungry that you’re likely to not make the best choices and eat way beyond fullness, leading to bloating, fatigue and digestion issues 👎🏼
If you eat very little throughout the day, either because you’re super busy with work/life/kids or you ignore hunger cues, I bet you’re STARVING in the evening 😞
What should you do? Try to eat every 3-4 hours, even if you’re not super hungry. Eating more regularly will turn on those hunger hormones and eventually you’ll be hungry at regular intervals.
How often do you usually eat?

04/07/2021

THIS👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I weave these very ideas into every session with my clients of all ages.

04/06/2021

In partnership with Hannaford Supermarkets I am offering a Free Virtual Class:
Easy Mocktails for Any Occassion
Join me this Thursday April 8th at 4:00 pm

Follow the link to register

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/easy-mocktails-for-any-occasion-tickets-136617922885?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

There can be a lot of great reasons to have a good mocktail recipe on hand. Whether your hosting a completely “dry” gathering, offering a non-alcoholic option for a friend or minor, or trying to cut down on alcohol intake, we’ve got a recipe for you. In honor of alcohol awareness month, your Hannaford Dietitian is sharing some of their favorite “dry” mocktails. Grab a glass and join the fun!
Participants will receive a link to join the webinar in their confirmation email.

In honor of alcohol awareness month, your Hannaford Dietitian is sharing their favorite “dry” mocktails. Grab a glass & join the fun!